Bay Bridge

Though Bay Bridge wind restrictions and warnings had been lifted two hours prior, a two-vehicle crash on the bridge westbound has blocked the westbound right traffic lane and westbound middle lane at 9:04 a.m. on Tuesday, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority. MdTA added that as of 7 a.m. two right lanes of northbound Interstate 95 in the Rossville area are closed near I-695 for emergency roadwork. MdTA cautioned motorists to watch for slowing traffic. The Maryland Transit Administration reported at 9:23 a.m. major light rail delays from Hunt Valley to Cromwell and BWI Airport.

Vacationers heading back to the Baltimore area from the Eastern Shore Monday night were experiencing some of the worst traffic of the summer. As late as 8 p.m., cars heading westbound were backed up to Exit 42, the east side of Kent Narrows Bridge, or about 5.4 miles from the Bay Bridge, according to a recorded traffic report. There were no delays for eastbound traffic, according to the traffic report. mary.mccauley@baltsun.com

The Maryland Transportation Authority said at 9:05 a.m. on Tuesday that the Bay Bridge was under Wind Warning conditions, with sustained wind speeds or gusts of 30-39 mph. Box trailers, house trailers or other vehicles that may be subject to high winds are advised to use caution crossing the bridge, MdTA said. A collision in White Marsh on I-95 South at the MD 43 (White Marsh Boulevard) exit has closed the southbound left shoulder at 8:05 a.m., according to DOT. A utility problem in Parkville on MD 147 South at Putty Hill Avenue has closed the southbound right traffic lane and southbound right shoulder at 4:27 a.m., according to DOT. The incident was due to a gas regulator adjustment by BGE, DOT said.

The beach. The beautiful water. The strolls along the boardwalk for summer foods. The lovely house with the wraparound porch and the sunny breakfast nook. And the two-hour backup on the Bay Bridge. The rowdy, half-naked crowds pushing in line for french fries and saltwater taffy. The expensive rental house with the unstable porch, not to mention the dingy decor. Beach vacations can be a mixed bag - and that's when you've taken care of the things you can plan for. Bad weather, unexpected traffic and incompatibility among friends who don't work so well as weeklong housemates can all put a damper on what you hoped would be a great vacation.

The last Saturday in June was the day we said goodbye to Baltimore and packed it up for the summer. As a child, it was a day I anticipated all year, then remembered for its unforgettable set of rituals. By the end of June the pace of our domestic life was slowing. The heat had set in, and, as a neighbor once observed, there was never an electric fan in our home. Baltimore was just different in the summer. The downtown department stores closed at noon on Saturdays. As you walked the streets you heard Orioles games on radios through all the open windows.

A five-car crash at the Bay Bridge caused traffic delays on Route 50 Sunday afternoon. The crash on eastbound Route 50 at the bridge was reported at about 2:30 p.m. The left lane on the eastbound span was closed for nearly an hour. One person was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, said 1st Sgt. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. By 3:50 p.m., traffic was backed up about three miles approaching the bridge, Green said.

The Maryland Transportation Authority is planning more overnight closings of the westbound span of the Bay Bridge than previously indicated, with shutdowns for its deck-replacement project continuing for the next several weeks. The authority had said it would quickly wrap up its years-long schedule of regular weekday closings after the completion of pavement work on the $65 million project. However, it now says it will need several more weeks of late-night shutdowns for what it calls "demobilization" of the projects and other "punch list items."

Maryland transportation officials are warning motorists they will shut down the eastbound span of the Bay Bridge late Sunday. They will close one-lane of the eastbound span of the Bay Bridge at 9 p.m. Sunday evening, and close the entire eastbound span before midnight Sunday, according to a transportation department official. The span will remain closed until 5 a.m. Monday morning to accommodate repairs. Two-way traffic will operate on the westbound side of the bridge when the entire eastbound portion is closed.

There is nothing wrong with the Bay Bridge — it was the victim of short-sighted politicians back in the early 50's, who went against common sense that 4 lanes was the way to go ("Acrophobia on the bay," Oct. 18)! As for the bridge being unsafe, it's like the phrase, "guns don't kill people — people kill people. " The rush to get into line after going through the toll booth, failure to have any space between cars, the constant lane changes, wrongful hookups of trailers and tired/impaired drivers — the list goes on. I'm not a bridge building expert, but I don't see how the bridge — any bridge — could have stopped a tractor trailer at speed from going through the side barrier.

The state on Friday will begin a weeklong project to install new safety measures on the westbound span of the Bay Bridge to guide traffic during two-way operation and eliminate some lane changes. Crews will install a buffer zone, rumble strips and continuous double yellow lines along the entire 4.3-mile length of the span, as recommended in a safety study last year. The result will mean motorists will not be allowed to switch between the left and center lanes at any time during a crossing.

Two left lanes on Interstate 95 near the MD 24 exit in Harford County have reopened after an overturned vehicle caused a fuel spill, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority. The right lane remains closed. The area is experiencing major delays. The Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company reports a 48-year-old woman was transported to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center following the crash as a precaution. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning from noon until 10 p.m. Friday.

Traffic was brought to a standstill on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and two people — including a Maryland Transportation Authority police officer — were flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center following a two-vehicle crash on Kent Island on Wednesday. The crash occurred about a half-mile east of the bridge when a vehicle traveling east on Route 50 veered off the highway and crashed into a patrol vehicle that was parked in a crossover area between the eastbound and westbound lanes, said Lt. Kevin Ayd, a MdTA spokesman.

A South Carolina man died Sunday after suffering a medical emergency approximately one mile into a swimming event near the Bay Bridge, police said. Robert Matysek, 58, of Charleston, S.C., suffered cardiac arrest at 11:20 a.m. on Sunday, about a quarter of the way through a 4.4-mile Great Chesapeake Bay Swim in 72-degree water, the Maryland Natural Resources Police announced. He was about a mile off the shore of Sandy Point State Park when an Anne Arundel County Fire Boat picked him up and he was transported to the Anne Arundel County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:40 a.m. Matysek's wife, Patricia, was at the event and said her husband had previously completed 20 of the same swimming event, according to Candy Thomson, a Natural Resources Police spokeswoman.

Drivers could hit some congestion in Anne Arundel County this weekend due to multiple events planned for the greater Annapolis area. The Maryland Transportation Authority is warning of heavy traffic at the Bay Bridge Friday through Sunday due to a NASCAR races at Dover International Speedway in Delaware. In the event of eastbound delays, officials will allow two-way traffic on the westbound span to alleviate delays, if weather permits. Also Friday through Sunday, BGE plans to continue utility work in Crownsville including the use of helicopters to replace wires and utility poles.

Motorists heading back to Baltimore on Monday from the Eastern Shore after the first long holiday weekend of the summer became snarled in traffic that mostly was stop and stop for most of the evening. The Bay Bridge hotline reported that as of 11:30 p.m. Monday, there were no backups on the bridge or approaching it - an improvement over the eight-mile backup reported earlier. mary.mccauley@baltsun.com

A five-car crash at the Bay Bridge caused traffic delays on Route 50 Sunday afternoon. The crash on eastbound Route 50 at the bridge was reported at about 2:30 p.m. The left lane on the eastbound span was closed for nearly an hour. One person was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, said 1st Sgt. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. By 3:50 p.m., traffic was backed up about three miles approaching the bridge, Green said.

A car caught fire on the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Monday afternoon, briefly shutting all inner loop lanes carrying Interstate 695 over the Patapsco River in Baltimore. Tamory Winfield, a Maryland Transportation Authority spokesman, said the fire - which began around 6:30 p.m. - had been extinguished by about 7:15 p.m., and traffic was getting by despite the right lane remaining closed. The car that caught fire had been removed. The incident was the second of its kind in 24 hours for the MdTA.

A truck fire closed the eastbound span of the Bay Bridge Sunday evening, according to Maryland Transportation Authority. The MDTA tweeted around 7:40 p.m. that the westbound span was being set up to operate with two-way traffic to accommodate eastbound travelers. Traffic was held on the southern span around 7 p.m., officials said. Fire crews were on the scene, according to the MDTA. A photo submitted to The Sun showed the cab of a tractor trailer on fire with a thick plume of black smoke blowing toward the Eastern Shore.